. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BFA/W/123/Rev.2 
8 December 2004 
 
 (04-5399) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
 
   
MONITORING AND CONTROL OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE 
 
Revision
 
  
I. BACKGROUND 
1. The significant increase in the workload of the WTO in the years since its coming into 
existence has resulted in a situation whereby a nu mber of individuals are funded on a long-term basis 
by Temporary Assistance (TA).  The main reason for this development is that staff resources have, in 
many instances, not been wholly adequate to fulf il the Organization's increas ed responsibilities both 
in terms of breadth and volume of tasks.  This reality has been recognized by the Committee on 
Budget, Finance and Administration (CBFA) in the la st two budget exercises, whereby a number of 
positions, in the same Division filled by the same person  for at least four years,  funded under TA have 
been consolidated into the regular staffing of  the organization on a cost-neutral basis.   
II. FUTURE POLICY 
2. Henceforth TA funds will be provided and used exclusively for the following purposes: 
(a) for temporary  peaks in workload, particularly in  such areas as translation, word-
processing, and, to a lesser ex tent, reproduction of documents; 
(b) for occasional situations which require manual workers for a short period of time, 
e.g. a large number of office moves which exceed the capacity of regular staff to 
effect in a reasonable period of time; 
(c) for replacement of staff on long medical leave and maternity leave; 
(d) to implement the WTO Internship Programme, normally limited to three months' 
duration per intern; 
(e) for short-term consultants to undertake specifi c tasks, such as in the informatics area;  
and 
(f) for overtime of staff required to work in excess of the normal work week; 
(g) for other purposes of an exceptional nature, subject to the approval of the CBFA.  
III. PROPOSED ACTIONS 
3. In order to reduce the number of staff funded from TA on a long-term basis, and to minimize 
the chances that such situations should recur,  the following plan of action will be adopted: 
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(a) the consolidation, on a cost-neutral basis, of five
1 positions, each filled by the same 
person in the same Division, to be accepted by Members of the CBFA in the context 
of the recommendation to the General Council on the revised budget for 2005; 
(b) the Human Resources Management Co mmittee (HRMC) will examine those 
remaining long-term TA positions with a vi ew to reassessing their continuing need; 
those positions whose continuing need has been reaffirmed by the HRMC will be 
examined to see whether a reallocation of posts, including vacant posts, can be used 
to advertise a post corresponding to the functions currently being handled on TA, 
thereby further reducing the number of long-term positions filled by TA; 
(c) other than replacement for staff on special leave without pay or on long sick and 
maternity leave, which is limited to the du ration of the leave, any proposal for a new 
TA contract of more than three months' duration , or any extension of a TA contract 
over three months must be approved by the Deputy Director-General in charge of 
finance and administration who will report re gularly to the CBFA in the context of 
the Progress Reports on Human Resources , on action taken in this regard; 
(d) no TA contract may be extended beyond 11 months of continuous service, unless 
exceptional circumstances so require.  This may apply only in a very limited number 
of cases, and on the basis of a decision by the CBFA on a proposal from the 
Secretariat.  
(e) the extent to which TA associated with implementation of the DDAGTF and other 
trust funds is properly reflected in the staff resources available through those funds 
will be reassessed in order to avoid a situ ation whereby implementation of trust fund 
technical assistance activities relies di sproportionately on regular budget TA 
resources. 
IV. OTHER MEASURES WHICH COULD LIMIT EXPENDITURES ON TA: 
4. The following measures will also be pursued in the context of limiting the use of TA: 
(a) institute greater control on utilization of overtime and apply a mandatory policy for 
taking a certain amount of overtime as compensatory time-off; 
(b) investigate creative solutions for situati ons when TA is used or proposed; and 
(c) investigate other avenues for possible outsourcing which could impact on both 
regular positions and TA. 
5. The Committee may wish to endorse the measures outlined in this paper. 
 
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1 Four in the WTO Secretariat and one in the Appellate Body Secretariat.